Current Affairs
Ranks & Reports

India has jumped eight places to 36th position on the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, which analyses the IP climate in 50 global economies, this year. India’s eight-point jump in 2019 from 44th position in 2018 is the highest increase among 50 nations mapped by the index. The US, the UK, Sweden, France and Germany remained the top five economies on the intellectual property index in 2019 retaining their spots from the last year. The index brought out by the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) ranks countries based on 45 indicators that are critical to an innovation-led economy supported by robust patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets protection.

Assam occupied the top slot in the ranking of best practices followed by states in the Budget formulation, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, as per a survey by Transparency International. The survey is based on 4 parameters which include public disclosure, budgetary process, post-budget fiscal management and efforts to make the budget more transparent and citizen-friendly. The states which figured lower in the ranking were Meghalaya, Manipur and Punjab.

Fitch Solutions, the research arm of Fitch Group, projected the government’s fiscal deficit to overshoot the budgeted target by 0.2% to 3.6% of GDP in 2019-20 fiscal. It stated that 2019-20 Budget appears to show a strong populist bent in the run-up to the General election due by May 2019. Accordingly, Fitch Solutions revised its forecast for the central government fiscal deficit to come in at 3.6% of GDP in FY 2019-20, from 3% previously, which reflects our expectation for a wider fiscal deficit in FY 2019-20 versus FY2018-19.

Union Minister KJ Alphons has announced that the country’s tourism sector fetched revenue of 234 billion US Dollar in 2018, registering a growth of over 19%. This revenue was contributed by 87% domestic and 13% foreign tourists. He made the announcement at the 2nd ASEAN-India Youth Summit in Guwahati. The country is ranked third in the tourism sector, according to the 2018 report of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal launched the “The Future of Rail” report of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The Future of Rail is the first-of-a-kind report that analyses the current and future importance of rail around the world through the perspective of its energy and environmental implications. The report reviews the impact of existing plans and regulations on the future of rail and explores the policies that could help to realise an enhanced future of the railways.

As per the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO’s) periodic labor force survey (PLFS) India’s unemployment rate hit a 45 year high of 6.1% in 2017-18. It is the first comprehensive survey on employment conducted by a government agency after demonetization. Unemployment is higher in urban areas which is 7.8% as compared to 5.3% in rural areas of the country. The unemployment rate is at its highest level as in 1972-73. The rate of jobless rural males rose to 17.4% from 5% and among rural jobless females, the rate became 13.6% from 4.8%.

Dubai International Airport (DXB) retained its position as the world’s busiest airportfor international customer numbers for the fifth consecutive year with annual traffic for 2018 with Indian travellers emerging as the largest source of traffic for the airport which registered a record footfall of over 89 million. It overtook the crown of the world’s busiest hub for international travel from London’s Heathrow in 2014. The Dubai International Airport (DXB) was opened for civil aviation in July 1937.

India has been ranked in Bloomberg’s 2019 list of most innovative countries in the world – 2019 Bloomberg Innovation Index – for the first time ever. India has grabbed the 54th spot with a score of 47.93 out of 100 in the Innovation Index of 60 economies. South Korea has topped the Index for the sixth time in a row with a total score of 87.38, followed by Germany and Finland.

Transparency International has released the Global Corruption Index 2018. India rose by 3 points to 78 in the list of 180 countries in the world with a score of 41. China lagged far behind at 87 and Pakistan ranked 117. The top countries on the list are Denmark and New Zealand, with scores of 88 and 87. Somalia, Syria and South Sudan remained at the bottom, with scores of 10, 13 and 13.

India has replaced Japan as the world’s 2nd largest steel producing country, while China is the largest producer of crude steel, accounting for more than 51% of production, according to the World Steel Association. The global steel body, in its latest report, stated that China’s crude steel output jumped 6.6% to 928.3 million tonnes in 2018 from 870.9 MT in 2017. China’s share increased from 50.3 percent in 2017 to 51.3% in 2018. India’s crude steel production in 2018 was at 106.5 MT, up 4.9% from 101.5 MT in 2017. Japan produced 104.3 MT in 2018, down 0.3% compared to 2017.